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A newly identified protein and other proteins it interacts with could become effective targets for new drugs to control the parasite that cause toxoplasmosis, researchers led by investigators at Indiana University School ...

A study realized by teams from the Institut Pasteur, the Institut Cochin and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology of the University of Glasgow, could redefine part of the present lines of research toward a ...

Toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasitic infections in the world. In the U.S. it is estimated that more than 22 percent of the population 12 years and older have ...

North American babies who acquire toxoplasmosis infections in the womb show much higher rates of brain and eye damage than European infants with the same infection, according to new research from the Stanford University School ...

A third of all humans carry the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis—a disease commonly associated with cats, HIV-AIDS patients and pregnant women—with scientists long believing healthy immune systems control the parasite ...

A research study for 10 weeks in summer 2012 led Cornell veterinary student Emily Aston '15 into the heart of the Amazonian rain forest to conduct the most remote study to date of the foodborne and waterborne pathogen Toxoplasma ...

(Medical Xpress)—Dr. Anita Koshy sees a common and typically harmless brain parasite as a potential key to unlocking secrets of neurobiology that can be used to intervene in diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

Scientists have identified which strains of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, the cause of toxoplasmosis, are most strongly associated with premature births and severe birth defects in the United States. The researchers used ...

Researchers from Boston College have discovered a protein that plays a pivotal role in the progression of the deadly diseases toxoplasmosis and malaria and shown that its function could be genetically blocked in order to ...

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself recently been infected, or by transmission from mother to fetus. Cats are the primary source of infection to human hosts, although contact with raw meat, especially pork, is a more significant source of human infections in some countries. Fecal contamination of hands is a significant risk factor.

Over half of the world's human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that overall seroprevalence in the United States as determined with specimens collected by the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2004 was found to be 10.8%, with seroprevalence among women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years) 11%.

During the first few weeks post-exposure, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness. Thereafter, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, those with a weakened immune system, such as AIDS patients or pregnant women, may become seriously ill, and it can occasionally be fatal. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases, and can affect the heart, liver, inner ears, and eyes (chorioretinitis). Recent research has also linked toxoplasmosis with brain cancer, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Schizophrenia.

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